New York voters in four competitive districts selected Republican nominees Tuesday night to take on Democratic incumbents as the GOP tries to hold on to its razor-thin House majority.
Due to several rounds of redistricting over the years, there are only a handful of competitive congressional districts in the state. Two of them are on Long Island, while the other two are upstate. Democrats flipped three of the four in 2024 after a New York red wave in 2022 brought down many Democrats.
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The November midterm elections will also be an important political test for Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, who will appear atop the Republican gubernatorial ballot ticket. Blakeman won President Donald Trump’s endorsement partially in the hope that he could turn out voters to conquer Long Island, one of the best opportunities for Republicans in the country.
Here are four of the Republican insurgents the GOP is relying on to maintain its thin House majority.
3rd Congressional District: Mike LiPetri vs. Tom Suozzi
Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-NY) will face former state Assemblyman Mike LiPetri in November, just as he did in 2024.
Suozzi is the only New York Democrat to represent a seat that Trump carried in 2024. The Long Island congressman and the president both edged out their opponents with just over half of the vote in New York’s 3rd District that year.
Suozzi, a former Nassau County executive, represented the 3rd Congressional District from 2017 to 2023. He left Congress to launch an unsuccessful bid for governor, though he won back his old seat in a 2024 special election after the House expelled Rep. George Santos (R-NY).
LiPetri served in the New York State Assembly from 2019 to 2021. In addition to his 2024 race against Suozzi, LiPetri also ran an unsuccessful 2020 campaign in New York’s 2nd Congressional District.
The race received national attention last week when Vice President JD Vance visited Long Island to stump for LiPetri.
“If you need a congressman, if you need somebody who’s going to fight for you in Washington, D.C., Michael LiPetri is your guy,” Vance said at a campaign event. “But if you need a wealth manager, put your money wherever Tom Suozzi is putting his money, because this is a man who hates representing you, but loves sitting at his desk and trading stocks.”
Suozzi alleged in response that Vance improperly used taxpayer funds to attend the event.
The 3rd District, which covers parts of northern Long Island, is one of the state’s wealthiest. Suozzi leads LiPetri by just over $4 million in fundraising, according to FEC filings. Suozzi won by about 3.5 points in 2024, while Trump carried the seat by just over 4 points.
4th Congressional District: Jeanine Driscoll vs. Laura Gillen
Jeanine Driscoll will go head-to-head with Rep. Laura Gillen (D-NY) in a race where both candidates cut their teeth in Hempstead, New York, town politics.
Gillen, who clinched her seat in 2024, served as Hempstead Town supervisor from 2018 to 2020. She was the first Democrat elected to that position in more than 100 years. Driscoll, meanwhile, has served as Hempstead Receiver of Taxes since 2020. She was previously an attorney for much of her career.
Former Rep. Anthony D’Esposito was widely expected to challenge Gillen, whom he narrowly lost to in 2024. D’Esposito opted instead to retain his job as the Department of Labor’s inspector general, leaving the Republican nomination open for Driscoll.
The Democratic incumbent maintains a massive financial edge over Driscoll. Gillen’s campaign has brought in roughly $4.4 million more than Driscoll’s.
New York’s 4th Congressional District covers a southern portion of Nassau County on Long Island. Gillen last secured 51.1% of the vote in 2024, while former Vice President Kamala Harris won 50.04% of the district’s voters that year.
19th Congressional District: Peter Oberacker vs. Josh Riley
Rep. Josh Riley (D-NY) faces a challenge from Republican state Sen. Peter Oberacker over control of a district that stretches from Ithaca to the Albany outskirts to the Massachusetts border.
Riley was first elected to the House in 2024 after winning a rematch from 2022. Oberacker has served in the New York Senate since 2021. Oberacker started his career in the food industry at his father’s butcher shop, Spicy Pete’s Meat Market.
Trump wrote in a February endorsement on Truth Social that Oberacker is a “very successful ‘Meat Market’ Businessman” and “Dedicated Public Servant” who has “served his Community with a career ‘loaded up’ with accolades and wins.”
Oberacker fended off a primary challenge from fellow Republican Alexander Portelli. Portelli’s campaign platform included a commitment to repeal the federal income tax on people above a certain income threshold. The Marine Corps veteran received a four-year prison sentence in 2011 after police found ecstasy and other prescription drug tablets in the glove box of his car.
New York’s 19th District is one of the state’s whitest, with more than 8 in 10 residents identifying as non-Hispanic white on the 2020 census. Riley won the district with 51.1% of the vote in 2024, just above Harris’s 50.3%.
22nd Congressional District: Kailee Buller vs. John Mannion
Rep. John Mannion (D-NY) is set to face political hopeful Kailee Buller in November.
Mannion was a high school biology teacher in the West Genesee Central School District before winning election to the New York state Senate. Buller was chief of staff to Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins until February. She previously was the president and CEO of the National Oilseed Processors Association.
Republicans were dealt a blow when state Assemblyman John Lemondes, a likely contender for the GOP nominee, suspended his campaign in January. Buller announced her candidacy two months later.
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New York’s 22nd Congressional District includes the eastern Finger Lakes region, Syracuse, and Utica. The district is heavily agricultural, including over 2,000 farms, and Mannion is a member of the House Agriculture Committee.
Mannion unseated then-Rep. Brandon Williams (R-NY) by 8 points in 2024. Harris received 53.3% of the district’s vote that year. Due to redistricting and a likely difficult political environment for Republicans, the seat is no longer considered as competitive as it once was.
